


Ashes to Ashes

by theparadoxic



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, Mythology References, Reincarnation, Shorts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-10 02:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18929473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theparadoxic/pseuds/theparadoxic
Summary: Victor’s been reborn throughout history countless of times. And every time he’s reincarnated, one particular face seems to keep ending up in the same time and place as him.





	Ashes to Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> A collection of short stories where Victor and Yuuri are phoenixes who travel throughout time, and, for some reason, keep meeting one way or another.
> 
> Partly inspired by an experience some time ago where a workshop facilitator could apparently tell how old one's soul is, how many times they've already been reborn, and when/where/who they've been reincarnated as.
> 
> Mostly writing this for my personal enjoyment. Hoping to share some of the joy with you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Victor saw him was along the Nile River, and the only word that came to mind was, ‘beautiful’.

It was a hot summer day along the Nile. Victor, along with many others, was taking a break by the water, cooling off after an already long day (in reality, it’s only been 5 hours) spent building one of the sculptures of their sun god, Ra.

Building massive structures was no easy feat, but if the pyramids were of any indication, it wasn’t an impossible one either. It just took a long time — a very long time with a massive amount of people.

Needless to say, there’s quite a number in their group who were working on this particular sculpture. If asked, Victor would say that 200 men would be a safe answer. There really was a lot of them, some of whom Victor would often work side-by-side with, but many he wouldn’t even know the face nor the name of.

The man he met today was one of the latter.

And Victor wished he could’ve met him sooner if he knew there was someone as beautiful a man as him. After all, he had a weakness for the kind of beauty that left him awestruck.

Soft features yet strong eyebrows; long eyelashes; raven-black and swept-back hair (probably soaked from the sweat all morning); and big, brown, serious eyes staring into nothing in particular — yes, Victor was _definitely_ awestruck by this one. There’s only been one instance he could recall being so taken aback by physical appearance, and that one was of an Egyptian lady’s who worked for the pharaoh. Never in his life would he have thought men could be as stunning. To add to it, the bright rays of the sun were giving this man’s skin the illusion of glitter as well. And Victor was just sitting there beside him, the chatter around them not bothering him a bit as he kept on looking and looking and looking some more at the man perched a few inches from where he was.

There was something about him that tempted Victor to vie for his attention, but the sweltering atmosphere made it a chore to even think about. Also, he did not want to be punched in the middle of a work day; it will get difficult to get his pay should he end up injured mid-week.

“Anything the matter?”

He must have been staring longer than he thought, for when the other spoke up, Victor was taken slightly aback. “N-nothing of importance,” was all he could muster.

The man said nothing in return. He simply went back to staring at the view in front of them. A second – two – three seconds passed before the man upped and started walking back into the crowd. Victor could only follow with his own eyes.

“We should go back,” the man, whose back was then facing Victor, flatly said. He did not look back when he said so, not even stopping when he spoke. And just like that, he disappeared among the crowd of workers, blending in perfectly with the others whose white garments mimicked their own.

Victor stood, tried to follow him, until the unfinished sight of Ra’s structure, tens of feet from where they were, reminded him that there were more important things to focus on at that moment.

It was only later in the evening, after work for the day was done, that he gave himself the luxury of thinking about him again. Mindlessly chewing on his supper, the black hair and brown eyes flashed in his memory without warning. It was probably just a minute that he got to spend time with a stranger, yet the impression left was surreal. “How was that even possible?” Victor almost choked on the piece of bread in his mouth when he spoke in the middle of eating, sputtering a wee bit as he tried to regain composure.

One of his coworkers lightly patted him on the back, “Are you alright?”

He downed some water before replying, “Yes, thank you.” Victor smiled at him. As he moved on to eating his share of greens, he heard one of the group leaders speak from across where he sat.

“Tomorrow morning, we’ll need people to help out in building the ships,” the huge man bellowed. “Some of the shipyard crew passed away due to the intense heat. They’re asking for help from the construction team for the time being.”

Victor kept chewing on his food, only half of his attention turned towards the announcement. The figs were tasty, and any day that figs were served, Victor was happy. He reveled in his food and eyed the leader mindlessly as the speech continued.

“The need for cedar is growing as per order of the pharaoh, so ships are being hurried to completion. Traders will be leaving for Lebanon in a few days’ time, so anyone who gets transferred there would be gone for only a week, at most. Any volunteers?”

“I’d be happy to help out,” a familiar voice spoke.

A _very_ familiar voice.

It was almost so faint, coming from a corner of the room filled with so many men, that Victor nearly missed it.

But he didn’t. He couldn’t.

Victor turned to where the voice was coming from. Figs be damned, this was far more important.

The familiar man in the corner of the room continued to speak — something about bringing along three other people from their group — and made it easier for Victor to spot where he was sitting. True enough, it was so far that Victor could barely even see his whole face. But the dark hair was enough for him to confirm it was the same man he sat beside with earlier that day. His heart skipped a beat from the memory alone.

His feet itched so strongly with the urge to get up and walk over to him. Victor didn’t even get to ask for his name, after all. But he fought the urge, and instead, put his food down, raised his hand, then stood as he declared, “I’m going to the shipyards as well.”

At that moment, the leader acknowledged him happily, but all Victor could think about was _him_.

That man from earlier, who then Victor realised was now staring at him from afar.

Victor returned the attention to him, basked in that beautiful (perplexed yet not any less beautiful) face and smiled.

To his surprise, the black-haired man smiled back.

For a very brief moment, even with the hundreds of men surrounding them, it felt as though they were the only two people in the room. And if Victor were being honest, a part of him wished that they _really were_ the only two people in the room at that moment.

Victor honestly couldn’t wait for morning.

**Author's Note:**

> First time to set foot into writing for YOI. One of many ideas going on in my head, and relatively the easiest to carry out. Prompt came to mind while walking home and thinking about the circle of life lol. Also, I'm no history major so please disregard any technical inaccuracies!


End file.
